Marcella Noorman

Marcella Noorman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago, where she leads interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computational neuroscience and biomedical engineering. Her work focuses on fundamental questions of neural representation and biological system modeling.

Her research program spans three complementary domains:

• Computational Neuroscience: Developing theoretical frameworks for how sparse neural populations maintain accurate internal representations of continuous variables, as demonstrated in her 2024 Nature Neuroscience paper
• Systems Neuroscience: Investigating neural circuit mechanisms for spatial navigation and action selection using Drosophila connectomics (eLife 2021)
• Biomedical Modeling: Applying mathematical techniques to liver metabolism systems (Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering 2019)

Dr. Noorman's publication record shows steady output in high-impact journals with increasing visibility, as evidenced by Altmetric attention including Wikipedia references and news coverage. Her collaborative approach integrates theoretical and experimental neuroscience through partnerships with major research institutions.

The lab emphasizes quantitative approaches to neuroscience, with opportunities for students to develop skills in neural data analysis, computational modeling, and interdisciplinary research. As an early-career faculty member, she is actively building her research program and likely has openings for motivated graduate students with strong mathematical backgrounds.